ccording to the popular belief, that the animal was enclosed when the
rock was formed--would be as great an anomaly and wonder as the
mention, as an historical fact, of an express train or the telegraph
in the days of the patriarchs. In other words, the live toad which
hops out of an Old Red Sandstone rock must be presumed, on the popular
belief, to be older by untold ages than the oldest fossil frogs and
toads. The reasonable mind, however, will ponder and consider each
feature of the case, and will rather prefer to countenance a
supposition based on ordinary experience, than an explanation brought
ready-made from the domain of the miraculous; whilst not the least
noteworthy feature of these cases is that included in the remark of
Smellie, respecting the tendency of uneducated and superstitious
persons to magnify what is uncommon, and in his sage conclusion that
as a rule such persons in the matter of their relations "are not to be
trusted."

But it must also be noted that we possess valuable evidence of a
positive and direct kind bearing on the duration of life in toads
under adverse circumstances. As this evidence tells most powerfully
against the supposition that the existence of those creatures can be
indefinitely prolonged, it forms of itself a veritable court of appeal
in the cases under discussion. The late Dr. Buckland, curious to learn
the exact extent of the vitality of the toad, caused, in the year
1825, two large blocks of stone to be prepared. One of the blocks was
taken from the ooelite limestone, and in this first stone twelve cells
were excavated. Each cell was one foot deep and five inches in
diameter. The mouth of each cell was grooved so as to admit of two
covers being placed over the aperture; the first or lower cover being
of glass, and the upper one of slate. Both covers were so adapted that
they could be firmly luted down with clay or putty; the object of this
double protection being that the slate cover could be raised so as to
inspect the contained object through the closed glass cover without
admitting air. In the second or sandstone block, a series of twelve
cells was also excavated; these latter cells being, however, of
smaller size than those of the limestone block, each cell being only
six inches in depth by five inches in diameter. These cells were
likewise fitted with double covers.

On November 26th, 1825, a live toad--kept for some time previously to
insure its being healthy--was pla